We caught up most of the sheep a couple of weeks ago to worm them, check them for fly strike and clear fleece where it hadn’t been shed naturally. Rambo jumped the hurdles, one lamb squeezed through a gap between the hurdles and the fence and Ellie and her two lambs didn’t get caught up as they ended up on the wrong side of a fence. So, we new we were going to have to do another round to deal with them. They are not daft and it’s taken at least a week to trust us to not shut them into the enclosure we keep their food trough in. We managed to get them all in last night though. Rambo had another bash at jumping the hurdles but Z was onto him and managed to catch him as he beached himself. He was quickly dealt with and we set about letting out the older ewes we had already done. Like a moron I managed to let Ellie free by mistake at this point, as she had shed her fleece so looked like the others. We worked our way through the others (one lamb had an early case of strike, so glad we dealt with that, no harm done we hope) and sprayed them all. Once they were all done, Ellie came trotting over as I had the food container in my hand. I was stroking her nose (well I say stroking but it’s more sort of poking with Soays) and Z suggested a try and grab her, which I did; for once quicker than the Soay, it will never happen again…

They all seem to have got red spray on them now, in places we didn’t put it. Ellie has got it all over the ends of her horns and one lamb has gone for a nice bit of red eye decoration.

I was at home today and it was lovely and sunny, so we decided it was a good day to get the ducklings used to being outside. They are still in the outbuilding under heat, but are not using that so much it seems, despite not really having any feathers yet, just fluff. We seem to have a boy and a girl, although Z is convinced the girl is some sort of cross breed…

The big old ash tree in the middle of our plot had a bit of a bad day a month ago and it lost an enormous bough, bring a load of smaller branches down with it on the way. We were out there and watched it happen (while eating sausages) having had seemingly no notice. In hindsight we realised we had both heard cracks, but had written it off as noises from the rec where kids were playing. Noises like that are a bit difficult to place. Anyway, the bunnies were underneath so we were fairly horrified when it happened; it all felt a bit slow motion. The bunnies, and the ducks, who were sleeping at the base of the trunk, luckily escaped the ordeal unscathed. The bough crushed both their arks though, with them backed into corners. We were really lucky as we could easily have been underneath and could easily have been killed by the weight and the height it fell from.

Nothing like a bit of ‘that was close’ to make you want some expert advice, so we got a tree surgeon in to evaluate the situation. The tree has some significant fungus on the trunk, which he said was a sign that the tree was in decline, but he said there was no indication that more branches would fall off in the immediate future. However, there are a couple of dead branches on the tree, an enormous bough that needs cutting up and some fairly long leaders which are getting quite heavy, so could in theory be the next to fall. So, they are coming on Wednesday to do the work. It’s a shame to have to reduce the size of the tree, but on the other hand, it’s potentially a bit of a safety hazard, and the wood will go to very good use in the stove over next winter. These are pictures of where the bough fell off and just generally so we can compare with after the work.

Not looking forward to today’s jobs of hedge maintenance and weed clearance. Although it is lovely to have a very long hedge down one side of the plot. The maintenance of it is a bit of a chore. A tree surgeon quoted us £400 to trim and top it, so I thought ‘I can do that’. I have been busy with my chain saw for the past two weekends, but it is hard heavy work.

So so pleased that our Muscovey Duck incubation had resulted in a couple of healthy little ducklings. These are from an ebay blood line, so we can keep them as breeders. Fingers crossed that they are girls!

Ran the incubator dry for the first 28 days with a humidity of about 30%. Followed by a wet jay cloth and both tanks filled to make 70% humidity for the last 6 days.